Joshua Burgos & Amber Rivard

Joshua Burgos began his dance career in 2011 while venturing into bachata and salsa courses. In summer of 2012, he took his commitment to a higher level by joining a performance team and began competing at an amateur level with his partner, Amber Rivard. His interest and passion didn't stop there for Latin dance. In fall of 2013, he joined as a co-director of Ahora Latin Dance Organization; sharing all responsibilities in social media, marketing, training and choreographing routines.

In his most highlighted moments of his career to date, he always reflects back to the training he received from instructor/trainer Dennis Allan Alvarado Lopez of D'Lopez Academy of Dance and Performance. Joshua defined his foundation and style with Dennis' five levels of Salsa, Mambo and Chachacha at the D'Lopez Academy. His most valuable takeaways from his training there was the core values of style, showmanship and musicality.

Keeping true to his core values, he began the Alma Milwaukee dance company with co-director Amber Rivard, in May 2015. His long term goal is to provide a team in every genre and level available from Alma Latina to Milwaukee, to train and develop team captains and to take the Alma Milwaukee teams to international Latin dance congresses across the world. His personal goal is to compete with his partner, Amber Rivard, at the professional level internationally.

Amber Rivard has been dancing since she was 5 years old. She started dance instruction in the disciplines of ballet, tap and jazz. for 10 years. Her passion for Latin dane started in college at UW-Milwaukee, after she took her first Salsa Level 1 class as an art credit. She was then inspired to join Ahora! Latin Dance Organization, UWM's first salsa dance organization that began in May of 2011. After a summer of hard work with Ahora! as a member, she was offered an officer position to serve as the Outreach Specialist! In 2012, she became Vice President and moved up to President in 2013, to lead after Evelina Mejia. As President, Amber and Joshua Burgos lead as co-directors of the team, who managed all social media, marketing and choreography for the group through February 2015.

Amber also competed in Milwaukee's Pro-Am Bachata competition with Joshua in 2012 and 2013. They studied together under the guidance of Dennis Lopez at his academy of dance and performance; D'Lopez Academy. She completed all 5 levels of the Academy within one year, with Joshua Burgos as her partner.

Amber was always inspired by the choreography, elegance and poise Alma Latina has maintained throughout the past 10 years. Alma's choreography style mirrors her individual Latin dance style and ballet/jazz training background